Japan

> Tok Pisin: Siapan (inherited)

→ Bengali: জাপান (japan)

→ Burmese: ဂျပန် (gya.pan)

→ Hindustani:

desctree

Hindi: जापान (jāpān)
→ Dhivehi: ޖާފާނު (jāfānu)

Urdu: جاپان (jāpān)

→ Irish: Seapáin

→ Marathi: जपान (japān)

→ Marshallese: Jepaan

→ Persian:

Dari: جَاپَان (jāpān)

⇒ Samoan: Iapani

→ Tamil: ஜப்பான் (jappāṉ)

→ Telugu: జపాను (japānu)

→ Yoruba: Jèpáànì

Etymology tree
Hokkien 日本／Ji̍t-púnbor.
Malay Jepangbor.
Portuguese Japãobor.
Malay Jepangbor.
Dutch Japanbor.
English Japan
First attested in English as Giapan in Richard Willes's 1577 The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies (cited in Peter C. Mancall's Travel Narratives from the Age of Discovery, pp. 156–57), translating a 19 February 1565 letter of the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Luís Fróis as "Of the Ilande of Giapan".
Borrowed from Portuguese Japão / Japam with possible influence from Dutch Japan, both from Malay Jepang / Jepun, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (ȵiɪt̚ puən^X, “sun origin”).
With /j/ readings, such as Iaponia / Japonia or Japon / Iapon from possibly Cantonese 日本 (jat⁶ bun²), also from Middle Chinese 日本 (ȵiɪt̚ puən^X, “sun origin”).
Compare also modern Mandarin 日本 (Rìběn), Japanese 日本(にっぽん) (Nippon) / 日本(にほん) (Nihon), Korean 일본 (Ilbon) (日本), Vietnamese Nhật Bản (日本).
The earliest form of Japan in Europe was Marco Polo's Cipangu, from some form of synonymous Sinitic 日本國／日本国 (“Japan state”).

der

Vivian: If you set a picture by Hokusai, or Hokkei, or any of the great native painters, beside a real Japanese gentleman or lady, you will see that there is not the slightest resemblance between them. The actual people who live in Japan are not unlike the general run of English people; that is to say, they are extremely commonplace, and have nothing curious or extraordinary about them. In fact the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people... if you desire to see a Japanese effect, you will not behave like a tourist and go to Tokio. On the contrary, you will stay at home and steep yourself in the work of certain Japanese artists, and then, when you have absorbed the spirit of their style, and caught their imaginative manner of vision, you will go some afternoon and sit in the Park or stroll down Piccadilly, and if you cannot see an absolutely Japanese effect there, you will not see it anywhere.

1889 Jan., Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying: An Observation", The Nineteenth Century

Japan’s very interesting. Some people think it copies things. I don’t think that anymore. I think what they do is reinvent things. They will get something that’s already been invented and study it until they thoroughly understand it. In some cases, they understand it better than the original inventor... That strategy works only when what they’re working with isn’t changing very much—the stereo industry and the automobile industry are two examples. When the target is moving quickly, they find it very difficult...

1985 February, Steve Jobs, interview with David Sheff, Playboy

Nolan: You do know Japan have expressed concern?
Douglas: What, the whole country?
Nolan: No, not the whole... Mr Yamamoto.
Douglas: He's important, isn't he?
Nolan: He's the major shareholder.

2008 November 21, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 3, Episode 1


mikado

en-noun

mikado (countable and uncountable, plural mikados)

Borrowed from Japanese 御門 (mikado), from 御 (mi, “honorable”) + 門 (kado, “gate, portal”).

com

The mikados of Japan are its emperors.

Our great Mikado, virtuous man,
When he to rule our land began,
Resolved to try a plan whereby
Young men might best be steadied.

(literary, countable) Any emperor of Japan.


Japanese

/ˌd͡ʒæpəˈniːz/

From Japan + -ese after the model of earlier Portuguese japonês, New Latin japonensis, French japonais, etc.

I’ve been studying Japanese for three years, and I still can’t order pizza in Tokyo!

A language that is primarily spoken in East Asia and is the official language of Japan.

जापानी भाषा

jāpānī bhāṣā


bushido

Borrowed from Japanese 武(ぶ)士(し)道(どう) (bushidō), from Middle Chinese 武士 (mɨo^X d͡ʒɨ^X, “warrior”) + 道 (dɑu^X, “way”). Cognate with Mandarin 武士 (wǔshì) and Cantonese 武士 (mou⁵ si⁶).

der

An ethical code of the samurai that was prevalent in feudal Japan that advocated unquestioning loyalty to the master at all costs and obedience in all deeds, valuing honor above life.


samurai

In feudal Japan, a soldier who served a daimyo.


tenno

Borrowed from Japanese 天皇(てんのう) (tennō), from Middle Chinese 天皇 (tʰen ɦwɑŋ) with the original sense of “heavenly sovereign”.

The emperor of Japan as head of state and the head of the Japanese imperial family.


sensei

Borrowed from Japanese 先生(せんせい) (sensei, “teacher; elder”), from Middle Chinese 先生 (MC sen sraeng, “master, elder”), from 先 (MC sen, “earlier, first”) + 生 (MC sraeng, “born”). Compare modern Mandarin 先生 (xiānshēng, “Mr.”). Doublet of sinseh, from Hokkien 先生 (sin-seⁿ).

A teacher, guide or mentor, in the context of Japan.


Nippon

Borrowed from Japanese 日本(にっぽん) (Nippon), an alternative or older form of 日本(にほん) (Nihon).

(rare, chiefly in brand or company names) Japan.


gakuran

The military-style school uniform for male students in most Japanese middle schools and high schools, usually in either black or navy.


eta

From Japanese 穢多 (“full of filth”) (literal translation, now considered derogatory in Japan).

q

A social outcast in Japan who is subjected to menial work, making up a class or caste of such people.


Tokyo

Borrowed from Japanese 東(とう)京(きょう) (Tōkyō, literally “eastern capital”), as opposed to Kyoto in the west, from Middle Chinese 東 (tuŋ, “east”) + 京 (kˠiæŋ, “capital”).

ja-r

A prefecture, the capital city of Japan.


Noh

en-noun

Noh (countable and uncountable, plural Nohs)

An irregular romanization of Japanese 能 (nō, literally “[performing] skill, talent”).

bor

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Noh.

(countable, rare, possibly dated) An individual play in this style.


tobiko

A nigirizushi (hand-formed sushi) made with roe of flying fish.


yakuza

From Japanese やくざ (yakuza). See there for more details.

cartel

Latin American organized crime syndicate

A Japanese organized crime gang. (plural: yakuza)

يَاكُوزَا

member of a Japanese organized crime gang

A member of that Japanese organized crime gang. (plural: yakuzas)


origami

en-noun

origami (countable and uncountable, plural origamis)

/ˌɒɹɪˈɡɑːmɪ/

[ˌɔɹɪ̈ˈɡɑmi]

Borrowed from Japanese 折(お)り紙(がみ) (origami), from 折(お)り (ori, “to fold”) + 紙(かみ) (kami, “paper”).

(uncountable, art) The Japanese art of paper folding.

The production notes are folded like the funny origamis that I made in grammar school (only I used to write boy's names inside each section).

(countable, art) A piece of art made by folding paper.

(uncountable) The materials science technology that applies the art of origami to products.

(uncountable) The materials science that studies origami applications in various material.

(uncountable) The mathematics field that studies folding two-dimensional surfaces into three-dimensional structures, using folds and creases akin to those in the art of origami.


origami

en-verb

origami (third-person singular simple present origamis, present participle origamiing, simple past and past participle origamied)

origamis (present singular third-person)
origamiing (participle present)
origamied (participle past)
origamied (past)

/ˌɒɹɪˈɡɑːmɪ/

[ˌɔɹɪ̈ˈɡɑmi]

He snatched my serviette and swiftly origamied a swan.

(transitive) To construct by means of decorative paper folding.


Jap

Shortened from Japanese, attested as a noun since 1872, and adjectivally since 1878. Compare Nip (shortened from Nippon).

A soldier might grab his rifle and batter his way to the heart of some Jap position. Back home they gave him all sorts of medals but his companions dismissed him as the poor bastard who finally went Asiatic.

1951, James Albert Michener, The Voice of Asia, page 6:

(derogatory, ethnic slur) Japanese; of or pertaining to Japan or its people.


Yamato

From Japanese 大和 (Yamato), itself of uncertain derivation, but likely related to 山 (yama, “mountains”). See Proto-Japonic *yamatə.

The museum curator said that the sword originated from the Yamato period in Japan.


ronin

From Japanese 浪人 (ろうにん, rōnin), from Middle Chinese 浪 (lang "wave", by extension "adrift") + 人 (ȵiɪn) (nyin "person").

Back at Asano’s home in Ako, his chancellor, Oishi (Tatsuo Ichikawa), rallies the samurai, now known as ronin because they are without a master, in a campaign to avenge Asano and restore his clan’s honor.

2022 October 24, Elisabeth Vincentelli, “‘Chushingura — 47 Ronin’ Review: A Sprawling Tale of Loyalty”, in The New York Times:

A masterless samurai (who often becomes a mercenary to make ends meet).

(colloquial, in Japan) A student who has failed the entrance examination for the high school or university of their choice: if the student does not wish to take the exam the following year or is unable to, the student becomes a ronin, assuming full responsibility for their own training and survival.


geta

Because of August he wears shorts and sandals, the Japanese geta sort called thongs.

1963 March 16, Hal Porter, “Little old lady passing by”, in The Bulletin, page 22, column 3:

The Japanese geta or wooden sandal is a superb, though little-utilized, tool for training in the martial arts.[…]The geta are flat, wooden sandals raised on vertical slats.

1982 July 5, Robert Dillon, “Geta As A Karate Training Tool”, in Black Belt, page 70:

A Japanese raised wooden clog, worn with traditional Japanese garments such as the kimono.


geisha

Borrowed from Japanese 芸者(げいしゃ) (geisha, “artisan”), from Middle Chinese 藝 (MC ngjiejH, “art, craft”) + 者 (MC tsyaeX, “-er”).

A Japanese female entertainer skilled in various arts such as tea ceremony, dancing, singing and calligraphy.


yen

From Mandarin 煙／烟 (yān), 菸／烟 (yān), or Cantonese 煙／烟 (jin¹), 菸／烟 (jin¹, “smoke, specifically opium”). Compare the earlier yen (“strong desire”) and later yen-yen.


kabuki

The whole "weapons of mass destruction" concern was phony from the start, and the drama about inspections was just kabuki: going through the motions.

2005 June 12, Michael Kinsley, “No Smoking Gun”, in Washington Post:

Health care reform recently brought Kabuki to mind for both Rush Limbaugh—“what you have here is ‘Kabuki theater’”—and New York Times columnist Frank Rich: “[I]f I were to place an incautious bet on which political event will prove the most significant of February 2010, I wouldn’t choose the kabuki health care summit.”

2010 March 14, Jon Lackman, “It’s Time To Retire Kabuki: The word doesn’t mean what pundits think it does”, in Slate:

The boy tells her she will find iPhone chargers if she takes five steps back. Here the performance shifts from mere stiltedness to a kind of hateful Kabuki, an affected defiance of how people naturally act: She walks backward, counting her steps, then turns and slaps her forehead.

2020 January 29, Dan Brooks, “Comedy Written for the Machines”, in New York Times Magazine:

(by extension, US) A stylized, pretentious, and often hollow performance; (especially) political posturing.


sen

From a syncopation of Middle English selven, selfen, variants of selfe, self. More at self.

Hear all, see all, say nowt. Eyt all, sup all, pay nowt. An if ivver tha does owt fer nowt, mek sure tha does it fer thi sen.


maki

en-noun

maki (usually uncountable, plural makis or maki)

From Japanese 巻(ま)き (maki), stem or continuative form of 巻(ま)く (maku, “to roll”).

Tightly rolled makis are designed to appeal to the eye--the negi hamachi maki, for instance, is bursting with perfectly centered yellowtail and scallions.

2001 March 2, Laura Levy Shatkin, “What's New”, in Chicago Reader:

makizushi, a form of sushi that is rolled.

maki-e

probably etymologically unrelated, although it does come from Japanese, like the sushi term...


saké

saké (countable and uncountable, plural sakés)

Borrowed from Japanese 酒 (sake, “rice wine”), where the final e is accented to indicate that it is pronounced where it would usually remain silent in other senses of sake, as well as to differentiate it. Likely influenced by French saké.

bor+

Rice wine; a drink made from filtered fermented rice.


wapanese

Blend of white + Japanese under influence from wigger, ("white" + "nigger"), although sometimes parsed as wannabe + Japanese, popularized by the message board 4chan.

Now, I know some of you Wapanese (Caucasian Japan fanboys) might get your panties in a bunch, but it's my opinion. LIVE WITH IT.

2003 December 16, I. B. Blaqman [username], “I really hate the way Japanese media sensationalizes their so-called "superstars"”, in soc.culture.japan (Usenet):

She wasn't the best, Wapanese.

2006 February 28, Blowhole911 [username], “Re: Arakawa”, in soc.culture.japan (Usenet):

His making the greatest samurai legend in Japanese history a white guy in the middle of the closed country era pretty much sealed it that he's a Wapanese with a pen.

2007 November 5, WrestlingizReel [username], “Re: Too much Hiro in ancient Japan?”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet):

(derogatory, ethnic slur, dated) Synonym of weeaboo: a person from elsewhere, particularly an unsocial white male, considered overly infatuated with Japanese culture.


mon

From Japanese 文 (mon). Cognate to wen, mun and van.

The shimonsen or shimon, originally worth four mon, but debased to two mon.

1902, Walter Del Mar, Around the World Through Japan, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., page 136:

(historical) The former currency of Japan until 1870, before the yen.


sashimi

en-noun

sashimi (usually uncountable, plural sashimis)

Borrowed from Japanese 刺身 (sashimi, literally “sticking into; slicing + flesh, meat”, from the way the flesh of the fish is sliced).

bor+

A dish consisting of thin slices or pieces of raw fish or meat.


sushi

en-noun

sushi (usually uncountable, plural sushis)

Borrowed from Japanese 寿司(すし) (sushi, “sushi (sour rice)”), ultimately from archaic conjugation 酸(す)し (sushi, “sour, vinegared”) of modern adjective 酸(す)い (sui, “sour, vinegared”).

For the vegetarians, she served cucumber sushi.

Not long ago a newspaper reporter came to interview me on the subject of unusual foods, and I described to him the persimmon-leaf sushi made by the people who live deep in the mountains of Yoshino—and which I shall take the opportunity to introduce to you here.

1977 [1933], 谷崎潤一郎 [Jun'ichirō Tanizaki], translated by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker, In Praise of Shadows, Sedgwick, ME: Leete's Island Books, translation of 陰翳礼讃 [In'ei Raisan] (in Japanese), →ISBN, page 40:

I lived in New York all my life. We used to have Chinese restaurants, ltalian restaurants. Now you have these sushi restaurants. Everyone goes for sushi. Sushi—I hate the stuff. Although, I tell you, I had some the other day. I took it home, I cooked it, it wasn't bad. It tasted like fish.

1985, Leora Barish, Desperately Seeking Susan, spoken by Taxi Driver:

A Japanese dish made of small portions of sticky white rice flavored with vinegar, usually wrapped in seaweed and filled or topped with fish, vegetables or meat.


Japon

Possibly from New Latin Japonia or French Japon or Cantonese 日本 (jat⁶ bun²).


Japanophilia

/d͡ʒəˌpænəˈfɪli.ə/

A strong interest in the country, culture, or people of Japan.


zaibatsu

Borrowed from Japanese 財閥(ざいばつ) (zaibatsu), coined from Middle Chinese 財 (d͡zoj, “wealth”) + 閥 (bjot, “powerful family”). Doublet of chaebol.

He wondered briefly what it would be like, working all your life for one zaibatsu. Company housing, company hymn, company funeral.

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 37:

At other points, the film suggests the motive is financial, depicting the Kobayashi clan as staging an industrial coup of sorts, like a quirky Andersonian take on the zaibatsu (a term for the family-controlled business monopolies that dominated Japan until the end of World War II).

2018 March 31, Nina Li Coomes, “Unpacking the Fictional Japan of ‘Isle of Dogs’”, in The Atlantic:

(business, historical) A large business conglomerate founded under the Empire of Japan, generally controlled by a single family or individual.

財閥

a Japanese conglomerate founded under the Empire of Japan


unagi

Borrowed from Japanese 鰻 (unagi, “eel”).

A type of sushi made from freshwater eel.


Japonia

/d͡ʒæˈpəʊniə/

From New Latin Japonia, also spelled Iaponia, through Japon + -ia.

In Japonia, 'tis a common thing to stifle their children if they be poor, or to make an abort, which Aristotle commends.

1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, I.2.4.VI:

THE Tyrants of Japonia invented a ſtrange Torment for thoſe who confeſſed Chriſt

1702, Jeremy Taylor, Contemplations of the State of Man in this Life, And in That which is to come, 6th edition, page 193:


fugu

Borrowed from Japanese 河豚 (fugu, “blowfish”).

Twenty minutes later, the chef has successfully prepared a whole fugu—or puffer fish—a Japanese delicacy whose capacity to maim and kill is dividing the country’s culinary world.

2016 August 5, Justin McCurry, “Last supper? Japan's diners divided over killer puffer fish”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Blowfish: a delicacy popular in Japan served raw as sushi that may, if improperly prepared, contain deadly levels of neurotoxins.


kawaii

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-kawaii.wav

Borrowed from Japanese 可愛い, かわいい (kawaii, “lovable, adorable; cute”).


ikebana

ikebana (countable and uncountable, plural ikebanas)

From Japanese 生け花 (ikebana, literally “living flowers”).

bor

An arrangement of flowers in this style.


bento

Borrowed from Japanese 弁(べん)当(とう) (bentō).

A Japanese takeaway lunch served in a box, often with the food arranged into an elaborate design.

graphical user interface
graphical user interface

(graphical user interface) A menu icon of nine squares in a grid.


hibakusha

en-noun

hibakusha (plural hibakushas or hibakusha)

/ˈhɪbəˌkuːʃə/

/hɪˈbɑːkʊʃə/

Attested in the mid-20th century, borrowed from Japanese 被爆者 (hibakusha, literally “bomb-affected person”).

bor

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons took effect in January after years of civil effort joined by atomic bombing survivors, or hibakusha.

2021 August 6, Mari Yamaguchi, “Hiroshima marks 76th anniversary of US atomic bombing”, in AP News:

A survivor of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

হিবাকুশা

survivor of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki


nigiri

Borrowed from Japanese 握り (nigiri, “grasping, gripping”, short for 握り寿司 nigirizushi, literally “gripped sushi” from the way the sushi rice is molded in the hand).

bor+

short for <i class="Jpan mention" lang="ja">握り寿司</i> nigirizushi, literally “gripped sushi” from the way the sushi rice is molded in the hand

Regular sushi: a piece of raw fish (or other topping) on top of a small oblong brick of sticky white rice.


sayonara

→ Greek: σαγιονάρα (sagionára)

→ Spanish: sayonara

/ˌsaɪəˈnɑːɹə/

Borrowed from Japanese さよなら (sayonara), a shorter form of more traditional さようなら (sayōnara, “goodbye”, literally “if that's the way it is”).

Sonic: Sayonara! Shadow the Hedgehog!

2001 June 23, Sonic Team USA, Sonic Adventure 2, Sega, published 2001:

(informal, often humorous, especially used when referring to Japan) Goodbye, adieu.


Nihon

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Nihon.wav

Unadapted borrowing from Japanese 日本 (Nihon).

ubor

1993 November 17, David Richardson, “Exchange student to Nihon!”, in sci.lang.japan (Usenet), retrieved 2022-06-05:

1993 December 26, Gabriele Schramm, “places to live in Nihon?”, in soc.culture.japan (Usenet), retrieved 2022-06-05:

It is stooopid and insensative for you to indirectly say that AIDS will come to Nihon via Thailand. AIDS is already in Nihon! And your attempt to make Japanese racists on the incorrect fear that Thailand will bring this disease to Nihon is out of line and very evil which is a characteristic of your race!

1994 January 16, Rikiya Asano, “AIDS on the way to Japan”, in soc.culture.japan (Usenet), retrieved 2022-06-01:

1996 February 5, sumimasen... ima nanji desu ka, “pen pals in nihon? 8)”, in sci.lang.japan (Usenet), retrieved 2022-06-05:

1996 February 25, Kurt Pertsch, “WORKING IN NIHON”, in soc.culture.japan (Usenet), retrieved 2022-06-05:

2010 August 1, mtfe...@netmapsonscape.net, “Back from Nihon”, in fj.life.in-japan (Usenet), retrieved 2022-06-05:


ukiyo-e

/uːˌkiːjəʊˈeɪ/

Borrowed from Japanese 浮世絵 (ukiyoe), from 浮 (uki, “floating, fleeting”) + 世 (yo, “world; era”) + 絵 (e, “image, picture”).

Like many Ukiyo-e artists, Jacoulet hires woodcarvers and printers to convert his ideas into prints.

1946 January 20, “Approved by the Air Force”, in Time:

The masters of Ukiyo-e, the woodblock print, like Utamaro, immortalized its great courtesans and its famous houses of prostitution.

Starling looked past Carter, to an ukiyo-e woodcut of a Kabuki player.

2001, Glen David Gold, Carter Beats the Devil:

(art) A Japanese painting or woodblock print depicting everyday life.


Japanification

(informal, sometimes derogatory) The process of making or becoming Japanese.


Ainu

From Japanese アイヌ (Ainu), from Ainu アイヌ (aynu, “person”).

The endangered language spoken by the Ainu ethnic group, generally considered a language isolate with no known relation to other languages.


California roll

en-noun

California roll (plural California rolls)

(cooking) A popular form of sushi in the United States, commonly made with avocado, cucumber, and crab meat, and wrapped with rice.


tea ceremony

A detailed ritual in Japan for preparing, serving and drinking green tea, seen as an expression of Zen Buddhism; also any similar ritual performed in other Asian cultures.

سَادُو

detailed ritual in Japan or Asia for preparing, serving and drinking tea


Shikoku

From Japanese 四国 (しこく, Shikoku, “four provinces”), from Middle Chinese 四 (sìj, “four”) + 國 (kwok, “state”, “country”).
(dog): < Japanese 四国犬 (shikoku-inu, “Shikoku dog”), named after the island where they originated.


Kyushu

From Japanese 九(きゅう)州(しゅう) (Kyūshū, literally “Nine States”), from Middle Chinese 九 (kjúw, “nine”) + 州 (t͡ʃjuw, “province, prefecture”).

com

The third-largest of Japan's islands and the southwesternmost of its four main islands.


Hokkaido

From Japanese 北(ほっ)海(かい)道(どう) (Hokkaidō, “North Sea Circuit”), from Middle Chinese 北海 (pək-hʌi˧˥, “Northern sea”) + 道 (dáu, “Circuit”, a province-like administrative unit from Tang dynasty China).

com

I took another look at the map, impressed by how useful random modern Earth knowledge was in this world. Tsia Mountain, which contained our dungeon, was within the Empire’s territory. Using the size of the mountain to estimate distance… Yeah, the Empire was pretty huge. How many Hokkaidos could even fit in here? More than a few. Not to mention that there’s dozens of dungeons marked on the map.

2019, Supana Onikage, translated by Quof, edited by K. “Kitty-tama” Jordan, Lazy Dungeon Master, volume 5, J-Novel Club, →ISBN:

The second largest island of Japan, capital Sapporo.

Hokkaido

a northern largest island of Japan, or a prefecture based in itself


Hokkaido

[…] Hokkaidos or Ainus (smaller versions of the Akita); Akitas, Japanese Spitz, Japanese Chin, Nippon Terriers and Kai Ken.

1983, Pure-bred Dogs, American Kennel Gazette, page 11:

A breed of dog originating from Japan, resembling a spitz dog breed, although not officially ranked as a spitz dog breed.


J-pop

Borrowed from Japanese J-POP (jeipoppu), from J- + pop, an abbreviation of English Japanese pop, coined by Tokyo radio station J‑WAVE in 1988.

The girls are constantly reshuffled into new permutations in order to feed the J-pop market's insatiable demand for fresh looks and faces.

2005 August 21, Chris Campion, “J-Pop's dream factory”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

She may be declining in popularity, relevance and quality, but Ayumi Hamasaki is still the undisputed Queen of J-Pop, and it will be a long while before anyone can surpass her.

2010 March 25, Teresa Nieman, “Why Japanese pop matters”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(music) Japanese pop music influenced by western genres.


Tokyoite

en-adj

Tokyoite (comparative more Tokyoite, superlative most Tokyoite)

more Tokyoite (comparative)
most Tokyoite (superlative)

Of or relating to Tokyo, the capital of Japan.


maiko

Borrowed from Japanese 舞妓 (maiko, literally “dancing child”).

bor

It is our pleasure to introduce a new maiko.


Sea of Japan

The body of water between Japan, Sakhalin, the Asian continent, and Jeju Island.

See van Japan

the sea between Japan and the rest of Asia

بحر الشرق m (baḥr al-šarq, literally “East Sea”)

(seldom used by Koreans) 일본해(日本海) (Ilbonhae, literally “Sea of Japan”)

조선동해(朝鮮東海) (Joseondonghae, literally “Eastern Sea of Korea”)


banzai

en-verb

banzai (third-person singular simple present banzais, present participle banzaiing, simple past and past participle banzaied)

banzais (present singular third-person)
banzaiing (participle present)
banzaied (participle past)
banzaied (past)

From Japanese 万歳(ばんざい) (banzai, “long live..., huzzah, hurrah”), from Middle Chinese 萬歲 (mʉɐnᴴ siuᴇiᴴ), from Old Chinese 萬歲 (*mans s-qʷʰats, “10,000 years [of life]”, i.e. “immortality”), from 萬／万 (wàn, “10,000”) 歲／岁 (suì, “year (of age)”).
Compare Mandarin 萬歲／万岁 (wànsùi).

der

10,000 years 􂀿of life􂁀”, i.e. “immortality

zh-l

萬歲／万岁 (wànsùi)

(transitive, intransitive) To carry out a banzai charge (against).


Meiji period

Semi-calque of Japanese 明治時代 (Meiji jidai).

The 45-year reign of Emperor Meiji (1868-1912). During this time, Japan started its modernization and rose to world power status.


Meiji

From Japanese 明治 (meiji, “enlightened rule”).


sugoi

en-adj

sugoi (comparative more sugoi, superlative most sugoi)

more sugoi (comparative)
most sugoi (superlative)

Borrowed from Japanese 凄い (sugoi, might have originally meant “dreadful, ghastly”), maybe with the same change in meaning as English terrific.

bor

Now ... I got one, and for some reason was able to see a very sugoi card was next in the machine […]

1997 August 16, username NeoMercury, “ARRGH! 955 Posts! and now while we’re on the topic, SM Dreams.”, in Usenet group alt.fan.sailor-moon:

The Miko outfits are totally sugoi, and the human forms of the gods are really cool as well.

1998 June 23, username Shiva the perpetually busy, “[POLL] What anime scenes would look best in real life movie?”, in Usenet group alt.fan.sailor-moon:

I’m wearing my latest Harajuku find: a gauzy, green sleeveless blouse, a pair of slimming pants—black, with some kind of shiny fabric—and a pair of totally sugoi sandals, with thick heels, black straps, and gleaming silver buckles.

2012, Diana Renn, Tokyo Heist, page 189:

(fandom slang, otaku culture) amazing, awesome


amigurumi

en-noun

amigurumi (countable and uncountable, plural amigurumi)

/ɑːmɪˈɡuːɹuːmɪ/

Borrowed from Japanese 編み包み (amigurumi), a blend of 編む (amu, “to knit”) + 縫い包み (nuigurumi, “stuffed toy”).

blend

Noa has been mostly homeschooled, and is poised to graduate high school in this "severely" rural area. She has a self-described "yarn addiction" (does astounding lace work, Amigurumi, and other yarn art), and wants to learn how to work in glass, after graduation.

2014 October 28, Christopher Langley, “Artbound: Jael Hoffmann: High Desert Sculptor of Internal Landscapes”, in KCET, archived from the original on 2018-11-02:

In amigurumi knitting, gauge sense is a little bit different from what it is in most other types of knitting. Since amigurumi doesn't really need to fit anybody, you're not obligated to work at any particular gauge. However, most amigurumi figures are stuffed with fiberfill. If you don't want this fluffy white stuff poking out of your creation, it's very important that you knit at a gauge that is tight for the weight of yarn that you're using.

2015, Hansi Singh, “Techniques: Gauge/Yarn”, in Knitted Amigurumi Vegetables: Basic Techniques Plus 5 Veggies, Minneapolis, Minn.: Creative Publishing International, →ISBN, page 31:

She started crocheting six years ago "completely out of boredom," watching YouTube videos to pick up the technique. Almost immediately, she started making amigurumi figures, Japanese-inspired stuffed dolls and action figures.

2017 May 3, Alyson Ward, “Adorable alert: A tiny yarn Sherlock Holmes or Huck Finn: New book features cute critters from Houston’s ‘crochet ninja’”, in Houston Chronicle, Houston, Tex., archived from the original on 2017-08-14:

(uncountable, knitting) The Japanese art of crocheting or knitting stuffed yarn toys, typically creatures having oversized heads.

اميجورومي

Pip Lincolne, owner of Meet Me At Mike's in Fitzroy, stocks cutesy, Japanese-style knitted or crochet toys, known as amigurumi. "When we started Mike's, we wanted to sell the things that we loved, which happened to be things with a childlike or nostalgic theme through them," she says. "We wanted to stock handmade items and discovered the Japanese craft movement a few months after.

2008 April 20, Rachelle Unreich, “The play’s the thing”, in The Age, Melbourne, Vic., archived from the original on 2018-11-02:

And since most amigurumi tends to be on the small side, you will use these small diameter circular knitting techniques frequently.

2009, Hansi Singh, “Techniques”, in Amigurumi Knits: Patterns for 20 Cute Mini Knits, Minneapolis, Minn.: Creative Publishing International, →ISBN, page 18:

Some days after April’s First Friday festivities, I noticed on the desk of a colleague an adorable crocheted fish doll, one Fred by name. […] Fred, like many of [Mary] Nguyen’s pieces, is an amigurumi – petite knitted/crocheted stuffed animals, popularized in Japan over the course of the 20th century before websites like Etsy, Pinterest and Ravelry exposed Western audiences to them in the mid-2000s.

2018 April 18, Griffin Swartzell, “Mary Nguyen crochets advanced stitching techniques into adorable amigurumi”, in Colorado Springs Independent, Colorado Springs, Colo., archived from the original on 2018-04-18:

(countable, knitting) Such a stuffed toy crocheted or knitted from yarn.


ganguro

/ˈɡɑːnɡuɹəʊ/

Borrowed from Japanese slang ガングロ (ganguro), from 顔 (gan, “face”) 黒 (kuro, “black”), in reference to the style of makeup intended to imitate a dark tan.

A Japanese girl fashion trend involving dyeing the hair and tanning the skin.

Ganguro

Japanese fashion trend involving dyed hair and tanned skin


Sino-Japanese

Involving both China and Japan, for example the First Sino-Japanese War, or Sino-Japanese vocabulary


Iwo Jima

Bernardo de la Torre
Iwo Jima
Iōjima (Kagoshima)
James Cook

From the early modern Japanese misreading Iwōjima for 硫黄島 (Iwōtō, “Sulfur Island”), a calque of English Sulphur Island in accounts of James Cook's voyages, possibly originally from Early Modern Spanish Isla Sufre although the island was left unnamed by its first known discoverer Bernardo de la Torre.

Not many weeks before, during the battle for Iwo Jima, Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer, had taken his inspired photograph of the American flag being raised on Mount Suribachi.

1955, Harry S Truman, Memoirs of Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions, volume I, Signet Books, published 1965, →OCLC, →OL, page 82:

A volcanic island in the Volcano Islands, in the North Pacific, now administered as part of Tokyo's Ogasawara Subprefecture and most famous for a major battle in World War II.


kirin

Borrowed from Japanese 麒(き)麟(りん) (kirin), from Middle Chinese. Doublet of qilin.

Synonym of qilin; typically used in Japanese contexts.


sushi roll

A type of sushi wrapped in seaweed; usually cut into bite-sized pieces.


pan-pan

From Japanese パンパン (panpan), an ellipsis of パンパンガール (panpangāru). Compare Ilocano pampam (“prostitute”), Tagalog pampam (“prostitute”), Bikol Central pampam (“prostitute”), Cebuano pampam (“prostitute”), Waray-Waray pampam (“prostitute”), Maranao pampan (“prostitute”).

In his recent overview of occupied Japan, John Dower poignantly describes the "pan-pan girls" who offended conservatives with their willingness to trade sexual favors for the Americans' gifts and money.

2003, David Richard Leheny, The Rules of Play: National Identity and the Shaping of Japanese Leisure, →ISBN:

Their fiction does, however, reflect specificiteis of post-Surrender society; the women work as maids and pan-pan, American GIs are ever-present, and shortages and disruptions are commonplace.

2004, Douglas Slaymaker, The Body in Postwar Japanese Fiction, →ISBN, page 41:

...popular perceptions of the pan-pan has given way in Ōe's series to an androcentric censure that sees the native intellectual youth as the chief victim of occupation.

2007, The Journal of Japanese Studies - Volume 33, Issue 2, page 400:

The sight of the heavily made-up pan pan smoking on street corners beneath railway overpasses at stations like Yurakucho, or even worse, the sight of these women hanging from the arm of their swaggering GI partners, constituted a painful affront to male national pride.

2009, Stephen Mansfield, Tokyo: A Cultural and Literary History, page 210:

The pan-pan girls who associated with African American GIs ("Kuro-pan" or "Black pan-pan girls") were considered lower status than those who associated with Euro-American GIs ("Shiro-pan", or "White pan-pan girls").

2010, Maria Höhn, Seungsook Moon, Over There: Living with the U.S. Military Empire from World War Two to the Present, →ISBN:

(historical) A Japanese prostitute who catered to American GIs in post-WWII occupied Japan.


Niphon

From Japanese 日本 (formerly Niffon, now Nippon or Nihon) "Japan".

The greateſt of theſe three, which is called Niphon, doth lye from Eaſt to Weſt, and is 700. miles in length and 180. in breadth, and it deuided into three & fifty little Kingdomes or Prouinces, and therein is the noble Citty of Meaco the chiefe and head of all Iapone.

1619, W. W. Gent, A Briefe Relation of the Persecution Lately Made Against the Catholike Crhstians, in the Kingdome of Iaponia, volume 1, page 20:

Niphon, the chief island, is nine hundred miles long, and one hundred miles in average width.

1853, “Japan”, in Putnam's Monthly, volume 1, number 3, page 242:

(obsolete) Honshu, the largest island of Japan.


gagaku

From Japanese 雅楽 (gagaku), from Middle Chinese 雅樂 (MC ngaeX ngaewk, “ancient ceremonial music”). Doublet of aak and yayue.

ltc-l

the ancient court ritual classical music of Japan, of Chinese and Korean origin


Disneyland

The archetypical theme park, located in Anaheim, California. Other Disneyland theme parks exist in other cities such as Chessy (Seine-et-Marne, France), Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.


obasan

Some day Japanese women may be seen parading the streets bearing banners on which are written “Votes for Women,”—at least what appears to be a movement in this direction was inaugurated last week, says the Far East, when a public meeting for women was held at the Kanda Y. M. C. A. under the auspices of a woman’s periodical, the Blue-Stocking.[…]Mere male creatures were allowed to be present, and curious University students who wanted to see what all the fuss was about were obliged to ask the obasans in their neighbourhood if they could seek their protection.

1913 March 6, The Japan Chronicle, old series, number 819; new series, number 583, Kobe, page 423:

Even if osteoporosis is not so common in elderly Japanese women as in Caucasians when measured in terms of bone density and fractures, I am still convinced that the many obasans one sees in Japan bent nearly double did not get that way merely from planting rice.

The boys resist the Japanese names by which the obasans of the camp address them as willfully as they renounce any identification with the fragmented body of the aged grandfather.

2001, David L. Eng, Racial Castration: Managing Masculinity in Asian America, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 120:

“Yeah,” September replied, “old woman. Push and shove. Often Tokyo obasans cut in line for everything and when they get caught they act innocent. They have power and they know it, like old-lady Morimoto, the drycleaner in our building. Geez, whoever designs obasan clothing should be arrested. Those tan shoes you’re wearing are revolting. I dressed up in those clothes for a Halloween party a few years back. But I didn’t look half as real as you.”

2004, Janice Valerie Young, Sweet Daruma: A Japan Satire, New York, Lincoln, Shanghai: iUniverse, Inc., →ISBN, pages 61–62:

Elderly gents in berets walked past us, elegant with walking canes, escorting obasans, grandmothers in gleaming tabi socks and geta clogs, treading lightly upon the path with a fixedness approaching solemnity.

2006, Trevor Carolan, The Pillow Book of Dr Jazz: Travels Along Asia’s Dharma Trail, Ekstasis Editions, →ISBN, page 227:

You were nearly hypnotized by the enchanting aroma of the smoke, but managed to keep a steady pace, not wanting to be pegged as a tourist by two obasans, who, cheeks red from the cold, were chatting while cradling grandchildren in their arms.

2007, Chu T’ien-hsin, translated by Howard Goldblatt, The Old Capital: A Novel of Taipei, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, pages 164–165:

Have you noticed what word the sales people at Shibuya 109, the Kiyoto “maiko” and night club hostesses use to refer to older women to avoid saying “obasan?”[…]Miu: Oh, wasn’t there some minister who got in trouble for calling women “reproductive machines?” Me: Exactly. That mentality. There are lots of women in their 30s and older who truly dread being called “obasan.” If it hasn’t happened already, then it could happen any second. Horrors! Miu: Moment of metamorphosis. Society decrees you useless for preservation of the species. Me: I like being obasan. I am proud of being obasan. Miu: OK, obasan. Me: Obasan is a title that you earn as a woman when you grow older and wiser and better.[…]Me: Women should be proud of being obasan. Miu: Of course. Me: Obasan Power! Miu: That’s a good way to put it. Me: But all you see in the Japanese media much of the time are obasans rushing to bargains, gossiping, taking flamenco lessons. Miu: What’s the solution? Me: I’m not sure. Data show Japanese women are choosing not to get married and not to have children, even if they do by some miracle get married.

2011, Yuri Kageyama, The New and Selected Yuri: Writing From Peeling Till Now, Ishmael Reed Publishing Company/Xlibris, →ISBN, pages 107–108:

Obasans. Every block in Tokyo has one such lady who sees that everyone on the block packages their garbage correctly.

2012, William Shurtleff, Akiko Aoyagi, compilers, History of Natto and Its Relatives (1405-2012): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook, Soyinfo Center, →ISBN, page 452:

“Obasan, not now.” CDI Jones was unduly rude. Although Matsumoto-sama was somewhere in her forties like me, I considered rude to address her as ‘obasan.’[…]“Flowers?” Zach asked. “For the obasans.” Wakabayashi said as if it was obvious.

2020, M. David Scoble, Zach Tragic in Forgotten Tokyo: A Near-Future Bad Luck Thriller, Moogi and Wil Books:

When I talk to the neighborhood obasans back home, I talk a lot more simply.

2021, Harmony Becker, Himawari House, First Second, page 348:


East China Sea

The East China Sea (ECS) is located south of the YS to the north of Taiwan (Figure 1). The ECS is usually defined as reaching from the northern end of Taiwan Strait to the southern end of Kyusyu where it adjoins the YS along a line from Kyusyu to Shanghai (the mouth of the Yangtze River).

1998, Akira Kuninaka, AIR-SEA INTERACTIONS AND WATER MASS STRUCTURE OF THE EAST CHINA SEA AND YELLOW SEA, Naval Postgraduate School, page 1:

A marginal sea east of China, south of the Korean Peninsula, west of the Ryukyu Islands, and north of Taiwan.


Ishikawa

en-proper noun

Ishikawa (countable and uncountable, plural Ishikawas)

Borrowed from Japanese 石川(いしかわ) (Ishikawa).

Ishikawa prefecture, a prefecture in Northern central region of Japan.


zaikai

Borrowed from Japanese 財界 (zaikai, “world of money”), from 財 (zai, “money; wealth”) + 界 (kai, “world”).

Behind the trading company and the bank are the financially interconnected companies known as zaikai, many of which descended from pre-war zaibatsu oligopolists. The modern zaikai has remained every bit as strong as its zaibatsu predecessors, achieving this result by linking companies (through interlocking directorships and equity by participation) whose operations comprehend most of the major areas of Japanese industrial activity.

1995, Lee Khoon Choy, Japan—Between Myth and Reality, Singapore, River Edge, N.J.: World Scientific, →ISBN, page 181:

In exchange for the continued support of the zaikai, which expresses the consensus of big business and acts as a large pipeline supplying the capital necessary for LDP activities, the LDP has made the utmost effort to reflect the designs of big business in its policy-making.

1996, “Dynamics of the Big Business Organisation: A Study from Japan”, in Raghubir Dayal, Peter Zachariah, Kireet Rajpal, editors, Organisation Theory and Behaviour (Encyclopaedia of Economics, Commerce & Management; 3), New Delhi: Mittal Publications, →ISBN, page 111:

Whereas elitist models include the big business circles, or zaikai, as one of the inseparable power elite, pluralists emphasize their relative independence of the political and administrative elite.

1999, Atsuko Abe, Japan and the European Union: Domestic Politics and Transnational Relations, London, New Brunswick, N.J.: Athlone Press, →ISBN, page 40:

The leaders of Keidanren [Japan Business Federation] traditionally have comprised the core of the zaikai, which literally means the "financial world" but is a term used more broadly to refer to financial and business community's power elite. In Japan's popular culture, in the fifties and sixties especially, the head of Keidanren, the "prime minister of the zaikai," and other zaikai leaders had the power to make or break prime ministers and to exert a commanding influence over economic policy.

1999, Gerald L. Curtis, The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change (Studies of the East Asian Institute), New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 52:

Collectively, the powerful and influential businesspeople and tycoons of Japan.


geiko

Borrowed from Japanese 芸子 (geiko) (from the Kyoto dialect).

For geishas - sorry, for geikos - the wig covers the whole head. Apprentices, on the other hand, are entitled to only a half-wig, while, in the front, their own hair is brushed, back-combed, and sprayed heavily to finish the look.

2002, Catherine Bergman, From the Japanese: A Journalist in the Empire of the Resigned:


Sapporo

Borrowed from Japanese 札幌 (Sapporo), from Ainu サッ・ポロ・ペッ (sat poro pet, “dry, great river”).

der

The capital and largest city of Hokkaido prefecture, Japan.


juku

A private Japanese school offering lessons outside of regular school time.


senpai

Borrowed from Japanese 先(せん)輩(ぱい) (senpai). Doublet of sunbae.

(anime and manga, fandom slang) An upperclassman or elder student, in the context of Japan.


maguro

Late 19th century, borrowed from Japanese 鮪 (まぐろ, maguro, “tuna”).

Tuna meat, eaten raw as sushi or sashimi.


makizushi

Borrowed from Japanese makizushi (makizushi), from まきずし, from 巻き寿司.


negihama

A type of sushi, yellowtail and scallion.


fusuma

A vertical rectangular sliding panel, often painted or decorated, used in Japan as a door or movable wall.


kohai

Borrowed from Japanese 後(こう)輩(はい) (kōhai, literally “later cohort”). Doublet of hoobae.

ja-r

(anime and manga, fandom slang) An underclassman or younger student.


Lake Biwa

The largest lake in Japan, located in Shiga prefecture.


matcha

en-noun

matcha (countable and uncountable, plural matchas)

Borrowed from Japanese 抹茶 (matcha), from 抹 (matsu, “to wipe, to rub”) + 茶 (cha, “tea”).

A type of powdered green tea, traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies.


Minamata disease

From Japanese 水俣病 (minamatabyō), literally “Minamata disease”, after Minimata, the Japanese city where the disease was first discovered.

A neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning.


hiramasa

So, in addition to San Domenico classics like pappardelle with wild boar, Ms. Fada will offer such fare as risotto with Iranian saffron and veal bone marrow, and a citrus-cured fish called hiramasa with squid-ink oil.

2009 September 2, Glenn Collins, “A Genteel Italian Now Tries Playing to the Crowd”, in New York Times:

yellowtail amberjack
yellowtail amberjack

Seriola lalandi
Seriola lalandi#Translingual

Sushi made from the yellowtail amberjack, Seriola lalandi.


Ryūkyū

Ryūkyū is itself an extended archipelago, and geographic dispersion sustained considerable linguistic divergence and cultural differences among the islands (Matsumori 1995:30-31).

2001, John Lie, Multiethnic Japan, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 96:

The Ryūkyū performing arts entered the Japanese mainland through performances by artists from Ryūkyū, after which they developed in new directions distinct from their origins.

2013, Hiroi Eiko, “The Creation of Exotic Space in the Miyako-odori: 'Ryūkyū' and 'Chōsen'”, in Hugh De Ferranti Alison Tokita, editors, Music, Modernity and Locality in Prewar Japan: Osaka and Beyond, Routledge, published 2016, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 274:

According to George Kerr’s book, “Okinawa, The History of an Island People,” beni imo was brought to Okinawa in 1606 by Noguni Sōkan, who was stationed at a Ryūkyū (Okinawa) trading post in the southern coastal district of the Fukien Province, China.[...]On June 19, 1615, Richard Cook, the English trader at Hirako, recorded in his diary that he planted the first potatoes from Ryūkyū in Japan. According to a document, “History of Okinawa,” prepared by Ijichi Sadaka in 1878, a Japanese named Ryuiemon brought the sweet potato from Ryūkyū to Yamakawa Village in Satsuma in southern Kyüshü between 1665 to 1675.

2021 November 19, Dan Nakasone, “Featured Story – GETTING TO THE ROOT OF BENI IMO”, in The Hawaiʻi Herald, archived from the original on 2022-01-28:


Osakan

en-adj

Osakan (comparative more Osakan, superlative most Osakan)

more Osakan (comparative)
most Osakan (superlative)

Of, relating to, from, or characteristic of Osaka in Japan.


Land of the Rising Sun

Loose calque of Japanese 日本 (Nihon, “Japan”, literally “origin of the sun”) or 日の本の国 (Hinomoto-no-kuni, literally “land of the sun's origin”).

calque

(periphrasis) Japan (a country in Asia).


weeaboo

Bulgarian: уийб (uijb)

Indonesian: wibu

Polish: łibus

A nonce word in "Weeaboo", a 2005 Perry Bible Fellowship comic by Nicholas Gurewitch, used later that year as a wordfilter replacement for the abusive term wapanese on the message board 4chan, from which its current sense derived and spread. Now sometimes reclaimed as a self-description by anime and manga fans.

(fandom slang, sometimes positive) A person who is obsessively interested in anime, manga or Japanese culture more generally.


Sea of Okhotsk

Named after Okhotsk, the first Russian settlement in the Far East, whose name is derived from Even окат (okat, “river”).

A sea between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the far south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and north.

Okhotsk
Sea of Okhotsk
Territorial evolution of Russia


kawaiily

en-adv

kawaiily (comparative more kawaiily, superlative most kawaiily)

more kawaiily (comparative)
most kawaiily (superlative)

(very rare, chiefly in the context of Japanese culture) In a kawaii manner; cutely.

kavaje

cutely, in the context of Japanese culture


kawaiiness

In the interviews it became apparent that the girls choose their products on kawaiiness. A mobile phone is kawaii for communication and e-mail.

2006, Shenja Van Der Graaf, Yuichi Washida, Information communication technologies and emerging business strategies:

(chiefly in the context of Japanese culture) The quality of being kawaii; cuteness.

可愛度

cuteness, in the context of Japanese culture


futomaki

Borrowed from Japanese 太巻 (futomaki, literally “fat roll”).

bor

Large cylindrical sushi, often vegetarian, with nori on the outside and fillings chosen to complement each other.


onsen

From Japanese 温泉 (onsen), from Middle Chinese 溫泉 (ʔuən d͡ziuᴇn, “hot springs”), from 溫／温 (wēn, “warm”) + 泉 (quán, “spring[s]”). Compare the modern Mandarin pronunciation 溫泉／温泉 (wēnquán).

der

We stayed at a traditional onsen with tatami, yukata, and kaiseki at Onyang outside Seoul.

A Japanese-style resort hotel at a natural hot spring, offering on-site bathing.


nyotaimori

Borrowed from Japanese 女体盛り (nyotaimori, literally “female body serving”).

bor+

A nude nyotaimori geisha piled with blue marlin, tuna, squid and scallops will set a man back about R7000; a pair of geishas costs more than R10000. Drinks are extra.

1998, Drum: a magazine of Africa for Africa:

Nyotaimori, the art of eating sushi off of a naked woman, is a Japanese practice dating back to the late nineteenth century.

2007, Make the Most of Your Time on Earth: a Rough Guide to the World:

The practice of serving sashimi or sushi on the naked body of a woman.


dorama

From Japanese ドラマ (dorama), from English drama.


J-drama

en-noun

J-drama (countable and uncountable, plural J-dramas)


handroll

A piece of sushi in the form of a cone of seaweed filled with rice, fish, vegetables etc.


Japonic

/d͡ʒəˈpɒnɪk/

A language family spoken in Japan, consisting of Japanese proper and the Ryukyuan languages.

日本‐琉球語族

にほん-りゅうきゅうごぞく


Korea Strait

A strait between Korea and Japan, connecting the East China Sea with the Sea of Japan.


konbini

Borrowed from Japanese コンビニ (konbini), from English convenience.


La Pérouse Strait

After Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, its discoverer.

A strait dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin in the north from the Japanese island of Hokkaido, and connecting the Sea of Japan on the west with the Sea of Okhotsk on the east.


Hinomaru

From Japanese 日の丸 (hinomaru, “circle of the sun”).

bor

The national flag of Japan, consisting of a large red disc (representing the sun) in the centre of a white rectangular horizontal background.


dynamite roll

From the appearance of an uncut roll, in which the tail of the piece of prawn tempura protrudes from one end, resembling the fuse of a stick of dynamite.

Fried gyoza, wasabi shumai, tako su; yellowtail sashimi, scallop sashimi, squid sashimi, crunchy spicy scallop roll, dynamite roll, dragon roll, yin yang roll, traffic signal roll, daiko roll, Jimmy’s roll.

2009 June 7, Stephanie Lyness, “Sushi at the Shore, With Lower Prices”, in New York Times:

A type of Western-style sushi usually containing a piece of prawn tempura and capelin roe with vegetables and Japanese mayonnaise.


wokou

From Mandarin 倭寇 (wōkòu, “Japanese pirates”).

(historical) Pirates of a mixture of ethnicities who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th to 16th centuries.


oshibori

A moist towel for cleaning the hands, offered to customers in Japanese restaurants and bars.


satoyama

A border zone or area between mountain foothills and arable flat land in Japan.


Hiroshiman

en-adj

Hiroshiman (comparative more Hiroshiman, superlative most Hiroshiman)

more Hiroshiman (comparative)
most Hiroshiman (superlative)


Hiroshiman

A native or inhabitant of Hiroshima, Japan.


chanoyu

A traditional Japanese tea ceremony in which matcha is prepared and presented.


Chinese numeral

en-noun

Chinese numeral (plural Chinese numerals)

From their original development and chief use in China.

A number represented using a Chinese system involving the characters 一, 二, 三, etc.

(in the plural) The system using such numerals, still employed in Chinese and Japanese-speaking countries and formerly used in Korean and Vietnamese-speaking ones.


kago

There are two sorts of palanquin, the norimon and the cango. The former, which requires four bearers for long journeys, is a large, heavy box, in which one may sit with tolerable comfort. The sides are in lacquered wood, and contain two sliding doors. Although this norimon is, par excellence, the vehicle of the nobility, it admits of no ornaments, and is used by the ladies of the middle class and by the registered courtesans, because both occupy a certain position of fortune and consideration in society. The cango is a light litter of bamboo, open on both sides; it requires only two bearers, who always walk with a rapid and regular step. They rest for one minute out of twenty. When they go back, each carries in his turn the cango, suspended at the end of a pole, over his shoulder.

1874, Frances Cashel Hoey & al. translating Aimé Humbert as Japan and the Japanese Illustrated, p. 156

There are no roads outside the villages in northern Yezo, no jinriksha,—those most fascinating man-power carriages,—no kago, or swinging cars, and no side-saddles...

1898 July, Mabel Loomis Todd, "In Aino-land", The Century Illustrated Montly Magazine, Vol. LVI, No. 3, p. 346

(chiefly historical) An open and suspended Japanese style of sedan chair.

With the long kagos, three coolies are always used, and sometimes four.

(chiefly historical, inexact) Any Japanese litter, inclusive of norimonos and other styles.


Sinaic

en-adj

Sinaic (comparative more Sinaic, superlative most Sinaic)

more Sinaic (comparative)
most Sinaic (superlative)

From Sinae + -ic, q.v., under influence of Judaic, Altaic, etc. and French sinique.

We will separate [the 'Yellow Race'] into three branches—the Hyperborean, the Mongolian, and the Sinaic branches.

1872, Guillaume Louis Figuier, The Human Race, page 205:

(rare, obsolete) Synonym of East Asian, with especial focus on Chinese people and culture: of or related to the Sinosphere.


J-

J-drama, J-pop, J-rock

(informal) Used to denote nouns for things originating in Japan.


oshinko

From Japanese お新香 (oshinko, “pickled vegetables”, literally “new fragrance”).

bor

traditional Japanese pickled vegetable mix


Tanabata

An annual Japanese festival, starting on 7 July, celebrating the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair), said to be separated at other times by the Milky Way.


B.C. roll

A form of makizushi popular in British Columbia, containing barbecued salmon, cucumber, and other varying ingredients.


nantaimori

Borrowed from Japanese 男体盛り (nantaimori, literally “male body serving”).

bor+

Some American bars also offer nantaimori: sushi served on a naked man.

2010, Catherine Price, 101 Places Not to See Before You Die, Harper, published 2010, →ISBN, page 66:

Just say yum when Montana's polyamory social group Polytana presents a night of nyotaimori and nantaimori, aka eating sushi off a female body and a male body, starting at 7 PM in [address redacted].

2011, Missoula Independent, Volume 22, Number 7, 24 February - 3 March 2011, page 24:

Actually, there'll be some nantaimori -- that's male body presentation -- at the event, too. It'll be a guy on display on that second stage, serving as a human table.

2011 March 15, Joe Crea, “Harvest Kitchen & Lounge in Solon has big possibilities: Restaurant Row”, in The Plain Dealer:

The practice of serving sashimi or sushi on the naked body of a man.


Abenomics

If Japan’s government can overcome a demand setback after the tax increase takes effect – leaving the economy functioning smoothly and initiating a recovery in government revenue – Abe will be able to declare Abenomics an unequivocal success.

2013, Koichi Hamada, Japan’s Tax-Hike Test:

(politics) The economic policies advocated by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.

Abenomics

economic policies advocated by Shinzō Abe


Wa

An Chinese name used for the ancient peoples of Japan.


kadomatsu

From Japanese 門松 (kadomatsu, literally “gate pine”).

bor

A traditional decoration consisting of pine boughs and other plant cuttings placed in pairs in front of a home for Japanese New Year.


dorayaki

A Japanese confection consisting of two sponge cake patties baked to resemble gongs, sandwiching a filling of sweet azuki bean paste.


bonseki

From Japanese 盆石 (bonseki, “tray rocks”).

The ancient Japanese art of creating miniature landscapes on black lacquer trays using sand and pebbles.


gunkanmaki

Borrowed from Japanese 軍艦巻 (literally “warship roll”).

A form of nigiri sushi consisting of an oval clump of rice wrapped in nori, forming a vessel that is filled with another ingredient.


Michigan roll

A form of sushi made with spicy tuna, avocado, and other ingredients.


shiokara

A Japanese delicacy made from small pieces of the meat of marine animals in a paste of the animals' salted, fermented viscera.


sushi train

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sushi train.wav

A conveyor belt used to direct freshly-made sushi around a restaurant, allowing diners to select the dishes they want.


uramaki

en-noun

uramaki (countable and uncountable, plural uramaki)

Borrowed from Japanese 裏巻 (literally “inside-out roll”).

bor+

A form of cylindrical sushi with two or more fillings, and (unlike makimono) having the rice on the outside and the nori inside.


arigato

/ˌɑːɹiˈɡɑːtoʊ/

/ˌɑːɹiˈɡɑːtəʊ/

Borrowed from Japanese ありがとう (arigatō, “thank you”).

And though those arigato smiles/Stay in your memory for a while/There still seems more to come

1974, Neville "Noddy" Holder, Jim Lea (lyrics and music), “Far Far Away”, in Slade in Flame (UK 7" vinyl single, 11 Oct 1974; UK LP as either 12" vinyl or cassette tape, 29 Nov 1974; US 12" vinyl LP, 1975 ?June), performed by Slade, Polydor (London, UK) 2058 522, 2442 146, 3170 209; Warner Bros (Los Angeles, USA) BS 2865; no US 7" release; no US LP release till 1975:

(colloquial) Thank you (used in the context of, or to evoke, Japanese culture).

اَرِيقَاتُو

“thank you”, used in the context of, or to evoke, Japanese culture


Japanese studies

(humanities) An academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the Japanese language, Japanese linguistics, and Japanese sociolinguistics.


White Day

Calque of Japanese ホワイトデー (Howaito Dē), itself from English white day.

14 March (one month after Valentine's Day), marked in Japan and some other Asian countries by men giving gifts (traditionally white in color) to the women who gave gifts to them on Valentine's Day.


weeb

Etymology tree
English weeaboo
Anglo-Norman feblebor.
Middle English feble
English feeble
English mind
English -ed
English minded
English feeble-minded
English feebinflu.
English dweebinflu.
English weeb
Clipping of weeaboo, possibly under the influence of dweeb.

etymon

(fandom slang, Internet slang, sometimes derogatory) Short for weeaboo (in both senses).


haniwa

A terracotta clay figure made for ritual use and buried with the dead in ancient Japan.


genmaicha

Borrowed from Japanese 玄米茶 (genmaicha, literally “brown rice tea”).

bor

Inside the bus on Sunday afternoon, the woman, Arielle Swernoff, 23, of Williamsburg, and her friend, Patrick Rheaume, 33, of Park Slope, accepted the cups of genmaicha tea offered them and embarked on a discussion that included references to the small towns of western Massachusetts, where Mr. Rheaume once worked, and the story of how he became friends with Ms. Swernoff while sharing a can of beer during a train ride in New Jersey.

2015 November 9, Colin Moynihan, “A Vagabond Teahouse Pours Camaraderie, One Free Cup at a Time”, in New York Times:

A Japanese form of green tea combined with roasted brown rice.

玄米茶

Japanese form of green tea combined with roasted rice


koseki

A Japanese family registry, recording the births, deaths, marriages, etc. in a particular household.


kendama

/ˈkɛnˌdɑːmə/

Borrowed from Japanese けん玉 (けんだま, kendama), from 拳 (けん, ken, “game played with the hands; fist”) or 剣 (けん, ken, “sword”) + 玉 (たま, tama, “ball”).

An especially haunting work, “If the Moment Came,” is a waist-high black box with a top made of wired glass and a murky interior that shows a looping video of a hand playing with a kendama, a Japanese toy featuring a wooden handle and a small ball.

2017 March 30, Mike Ives, “As Hong Kong Ponders Its Future Under Beijing, Politics Infuses Its Art”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A traditional Japanese toy with an attached ball that can be caught in any of three cups or on a spike.


State of Japan

2015, Embassy of Japan in Belgium https://www.be.emb-japan.go.jp/150jb/en/events/2016_01_23_miyabi_concert.html
On the occasion of the 150 years of friendship between the Kingdom of Belgium and the State of Japan, Fondation George Arthur Forrest has the pleasure of inviting you to attend the presentation of Miyabi, by the Kitanodai Gagaku Ensemble. A world first.

The court of the first instance issued the judgement partly awarding monetary compensation for the plaintiffs. The Osaka High Court modified the judgement in favor of the plaintiffs, and the State of Japan appealed to the Supreme Court.

2016, Waseda Bulletin of Comparative Law Vol. 34

2019, The 90th anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Between Japan and the Islamic Republic of Iran
I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Your Excellency on the start of the 90th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the State of Japan.

(rare) De facto official name of Japan under the Constitution of Japan (1947-)

دولة اليابان

de facto official name of Japan — see also Japan


sushi pizza

en-noun

sushi pizza (countable and uncountable, plural sushi pizzas)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sushi pizza.wav

A type of sushi originating in Canada, made from fried rice patties topped with raw seafood and avocado slices and drizzled with condiments.


ikizukuri

The preparation of sashimi from live seafood.


Sweet Lolita

From Japanese 甘ロリ (amarori), a blend of 甘い (amai, “sweet, sugary”) + ロリータ (lolita), from English lolita.

A Japanese fashion movement whose adherents dress in pastel colours and styles resembling clothing for young girls.


yubitsume

Borrowed from Japanese 指詰め, literally "finger shortening".

The Japanese ritual of amputating portions of one's own little finger to atone for offense, chiefly among the yakuza.


The telephone number for law enforcement in Jamaica, Mozambique, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka.

119 handles fires and medical emergencies in Japan and Korea but the police have a separate number, 110.

The telephone number for ambulance services in Cambodia, Cameroon, Colombia, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea and on Taiwan.

The telephone number for firefighting assistance in China, Bolivia, Japan, and South Korea.


Like 911, 119, etc., selected as a number both fast and easy to call from rotary or touch-tone phones and less likely to be mistakenly dialed.

110 handles police emergencies in Japan and Korea but fires and medical emergencies have a separate number, 119.

The telephone number for law enforcement in China, Japan, Germany, Indonesia, Latvia, Bolivia, Guatamala, Andorra, Nauru, and the Ivory Coast and on Taiwan.


Japland

→ Japanese: ジャップランド (Jappurando)

I am scribbling of fashion, and running into the moralities thereon, and revelling in my first day's frolic in Japland.

1872, James Brooks, A Seven Months' Run, Up, Down, Around the World, page 50:


funazushi

A form of narezushi made with nigorobuna (or sometimes other carp), packed in salt and rice and aged for several years.


Japanesque

en-adj

Japanesque (comparative more Japanesque, superlative most Japanesque)

more Japanesque (comparative)
most Japanesque (superlative)


tankobon

Borrowed from Japanese 単行本(たんこうぼん) (tankōbon).

A Japanese book that is complete in itself, not part of a series.


Dietman

A newly elected Dietman, Ozawa Ichirō, said that “my energy is now devoted to two things: handling requests from my constituency and learning how the Diet works. […]”

1980, John Creighton Campbell, Contemporary Japanese Budget Politics:


namasu

A Japanese dish consisting of thinly sliced uncooked vegetables and meat or seafood, marinated in rice vinegar.


Empire of Japan

(historical) Japan from the Constitution of the Empire of Japan (1890) until the enactment of the post-WWII Constitution of Japan (1947). Unofficially used for Japan from the end of the shogunate (1868) to the end of the World War II (1945).

大日本帝国

だいにっぽんていこく, Dai-Nippon Teikoku, だいにほんていこく, Dai-Nihon Teikoku


ekiben

Borrowed from Japanese 駅弁(えきべん) (ekiben).

A bento (boxed lunch) sold at a railroad station in Japan.

火車便當

bento sold at a railroad station in Japan


suiseki

en-noun

suiseki (countable and uncountable, plural suisekis)

From Japanese 水石 (suiseki, literally “water stone”).

bor

Metamorphic rocks such as crystalline schists, gneisses, quartzite, slate, etc. are most popularly used as garden stones and suisekis, but some other kinds of stone, igneous and sedimentary in origin, are also collected,

The same love for natural form expressed in bonsai is also found in suiseki, or stone viewing, long associated with bonsai in Japanese tradition.

1988, United States. Agricultural Research Service, The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum of the U.S. National Arboretum:

During this period of Japanese history, suiseki, as well as the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, bonsai, calligraphy, literature, painting, music, and architecture, attained new levels of refinement and perfection.

1995, Arts of Asia - Volume 25, Issues 1-3, page 98:

What was for many years an eIusive dream among FiIipino bonsai artists and suiseki Iovers, has now become a reaIity: the pubIication of this book.

2004, Bonsai & Suiseki: Trees & Stones, →ISBN:

A Japanese artform in which attractively shaped rocks and stones are mounted and displayed.


era name

Cities were not infrequently named after the era name in which they were founded (e.g., Shaoxing 紹興 in Zhejiang, after the Shaoxing era, 1131-62).

2000, Endymion Wilkinson, “Geography”, in Chinese History: A New Manual, Rev. & enl. edition, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 135:

The regnal year, reign period, or regnal title used when traditionally numbering years in an emperor's reign and naming certain Sinospheric rulers.


Hiroshima maiden

en-noun

Hiroshima maiden (plural Hiroshima maidens)

(historical) Any of a group of Japanese women who were disfigured by the thermal flash from the fission bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, and who subsequently went on a highly publicized journey to get reconstructive surgery in the United States in 1955.


ramune

/ˈɹɑːmʊˌneɪ/

Borrowed from Japanese ラムネ (ramune). Doublet of lemonade.

There are two classic Japanese soda drinks from the late 19th century still drunk today: ramune (lemonade) and saidā (cider). Ramune is a fizzy lemonade created in 1872 in Kobe and bottled in an eccentric bottle, called a Codd-neck bottle, sealed with a glass marble.

2021 December 6, Jeanne Jacob, Food Cultures of Japan: Recipes, Customs, and Issues, Greenwood, →ISBN, page 119:

A type of Japanese carbonated soft drink generally bottled in a Codd-neck bottle.


fenghuang

(Chinese mythology, Japanese mythology) A phoenix found in Asian mythologies, which reigns over all other birds, often of female sex and frequently found paired with the Chinese dragon.


early Showa

(fascism, history) Pertaining to the Empire of Japan’s history spanning from December 1926 to September 1945.


early Shōwa

Was early Shōwa Japan (1926-1945) thus fascist? As we saw at the start of this article, this question has been a key issue for research. We can’t provide any clear and final answer, or at least not a simple one.

2013, Daniel Hedinger, “Universal Fascism and its Global Legacy. Italy’s and Japan’s Entangled History in the Early 1930s”, in Fascism 2, →DOI, page 159:


koinobori

This was perfect— it rationalized the koinobori as quite befitting a peace-loving Japan.

1975, Nihon Bunka Kenkyūjo, A Hundred things Japanese, Japan Culture Institute, page 17:

At this time, families with boys hang koinobori from flagpoles in their yard. Koinobori is a fish-shaped banner. Each male in the family is represented by a koinobori on the flagpole.

2008, Sharon Jeffus, Jamie Aramini, Geography Through Art: International Art Projects for Kids, Geography Matters, →ISBN, page 68:

Along with the raising of koinobori, children indulge in kashiwa-mochi sticky rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves.

2016, Lawrence Winkler, Samurai Road, Bellatrix, →ISBN:

a carp-shaped streamer used to celebrate Children's Day in Japan.


Shino ware

Shino ware (countable and uncountable, plural Shino wares)

A style of Japanese pottery, originating in present-day Gifu prefecture.


Kimigayo

From Japanese 君が代 (Kimi-ga-yo), "His Imperial Majesty's Reign".


Nikkei

Borrowed from Japanese 日系(にっけい) (nikkei).


METI

(politics) (Japan) Abbreviation of Ministry of Economy, Trade, and, Industry.


Japanization

Japanization (countable and uncountable, plural Japanizations)

The process or result of making something Japanese.


God Emperor

God + Emperor. Its use in reference to the Emperor of Japan is from a calque of Japanese 天皇 (tennō), literally "heavenly sovereign/emperor", referring to the emperor's descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu.
For the second usage, from far-right Internet users depicting Donald Trump as the God-Emperor of Mankind, a character from the British science fiction tabletop game Warhammer 40,000. This tabletop game has become popular among far-right Internet groups for its satirical militarist themes.

Here the God Emperor and his fanatic warlords were using this same Western civilization for one purpose and only one: to create one of the world's most powerful war machines.

1944, United States Office of War Information, The Battle of China:

A god-king; a sovereign worshiped as a god.

(specific, historical) The Emperor of Japan.


maneki-neko

From Japanese 招き猫 (maneki neko, literally “beckoning cat”).

bor

A common Japanese figurine which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner.


Shikotan

From Russian Шикотан (Šikotan) and Japanese 色丹, both from Ainu シコタン, from シ + コタン (“settlement, island”).

An island in the Kurils, occupied by Russia but claimed by Japan.


emperorism

From emperor + -ism, possibly a calque of Japanese 天皇制 (tennō-sei, “emperor system”) or 天皇主義 (tennō shugi, “emperor doctrine”).

calque

It is difficult to argue with much contained in these analyses of the pathology of Japanese emperorism. Certainly emperorism was the value system that provided the foundations of Japanese aggression and bureaucratic fascism.

1978, British Association for Japanese Studies, Proceedings of the British Association for Japanese Studies, volumes 3-4, University of Sheffield, Centre of Japanese Studies., →LCCN, →OCLC, page 124:

He was a known supporter of "emperorism," a term used to describe those who espoused others to give up their life for the emperor and to the oppressive military regime.

1994, Kiyoshi Ōsawa, Marivi Nañagas, Go South, Japanese, page 104:

Each death in his name fortified the spiritual and psychological appeal of emperorism, ethnocentrism, aggression, and nationalism.

1997, Joshua Safier, Yasukuni Shrine and the Constraints on the Discourses of Nationalism in Twentieth Century Japan, page 33:

Extreme Japanese nationalism before and during WWII, especially support for the policies of the emperor.


uke-e

Transliteration of Japanese 有卦絵 (うけえ, ukee), from 有卦 (うけ, uke, “streak of luck”) (有 (う, u, “to have, possess”) + 卦 (け, ke, “divination symbol or sign”)) + 絵 (え, e, “picture”).

translit

This print uses letters as part of the picture but is also an example of an uke-e (lucky print). […] On entering a good luck phase a person would receive gifts such as this print containing seven words beginning with the syllable fu (from fuku = happiness).

2006, Rebecca Salter, “Leisure, Pleasure, Play”, in Japanese Popular Prints: From Votive Slips to Playing Cards (A Latitude 20 Book), Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, figure 138 caption, page 134:

(art) A kind of ukiyo-e (“Japanese painting or woodblock print showing a scene of everyday life”) depicting an auspicious subject, which was popular in Japan during the late 1800s.

uke-e

kind of ukiyo-e depicting an auspicious subject


arahitogami

Borrowed from Japanese 現人神(あらひとがみ) (arahitogami).

(Shinto) A deity in human form in Shinto religion.

one of ten major incarnations by the Hindu god Vishnu as a man upon Earth

historically used to refer to the Emperor of Japan when he was worshipped as a living god


cherry blossom front

en-noun

cherry blossom front (plural cherry blossom fronts)

An imaginary line linking regions of Japan where the cherry blossom season begins on the same date.


Japanese snake blenny

Japanese snake blenny (plural Japanese snake blennies)

Xiphasia matsubarai, a species of combtooth blenny.


Japonese

Borrowed from French japonais, Italian giapponese, Portuguese japonês, or Spanish japonés. Equivalent to Japon + -ese.

hi ! I have bought Overblood2 in japonese and i m^([sic]) searching a guidebook for this game, preferently^([sic]) in english
else in japonese if it is a website i have a program which approximately translate^([sic]) in english. so is there somebody who could tell me where i may found^([sic]) a free guide on internet.
thanks for attention
cheers

1999 May 3, jules, “Backups of Playstation^([sic])-games.”, in alt.games.video.sony-playstation2 (Usenet), retrieved 2022-05-26:

(non-native speakers' English) Misspelling of Japanese.


Good Luck Flag

A World War II-era Japanese flag on which is written messages of support for servicemen.


Aum Shinrikyo

Borrowed from Japanese オウム真理教 (Ōmu Shinrikyō).

A Japanese doomsday cult founded in 1987 known for perpetrating sarin attacks in 1994 and 1995.


Sinesian

From Sinese + -ian and Sinesia + -an. Compare earlier Chinesian.

The almost total absence of the warrior-spirit from the poetry of the Far East is a remarkable fact in the history of Sinesian civilisation.

1899 April, Frederick Victor Dickins, "The Origins of the Japanese State", The English Historical Review, No. LIV, p. 226

In this admirable work an authentic account is given of that tract of the earth's surface to which in these columns we have sometimes ventured to give the name Sinesia—the Far East, that immense Asiatic region which nature has isolated from the rest of the world by deserts, mountains, and seas... Now, through Japan, the West has made a definite breach in Sinensian exclusiveness; even China is assuredly following....

1905 September 16, “Literature: The Far East. By Archibald Little...”, in Athenæum, number 4064, page 361:

(archaic, now rare) Synonym of East Asian, with especial focus on Chinese people and culture: of or related to the Sinosphere.


sailor fuku

Partial calque from Japanese セーラー服(ふく) (sērāfuku, literally “sailor outfit”), from セーラー (sērā, “sailor”) (from English sailor) + 服(ふく) (-fuku, “clothes”).

ja-r

A school uniform commonly worn by girls in Japan, based on the traditional sailor suit but with a pleated skirt.


Northern Territories

The Soviet leaders traditionally saw their occupation of the Northern Territories as legitimized, among other things, by the 1944 Yalta agreement between the USSR and three Western powers.

1993, Harry Gelman, “Summary”, in Russo-Japanese Relations and the Future of the U.S.-Japanese Alliance, RAND, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page vii:

The Soviet Union apparently took the U.S.— Japanese political-military alliance quite seriously—probably more seriously than we might imagine. The Soviet Union’s reluctance to return the Northern Territories to Japan, even at the expense of the bilateral relationship, is ascribable to the global confrontation between the USSR and the United States.

2000, Hiroshi Kimura, “Basic Determinants of Japanese-Soviet Relations”, in Japanese-Russian Relations under Brezhnev and Andropov, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 12:

It was the USSR that was first to drop the idea to gain Japanese recognition of its rights over the territories renounced by Japan at San Francisco, and to propose the transfer of Shikotan and Habomai, precisely in line with what was advocated by the Japanese representative at the time of the signing of the San Francisco treaty, i.e., recognition of Kunashiri and Etorofu as a part of the Kuriles renounced by Japan, but strong insistence on Habomai and Shikotan being part of Hokkaido, and therefore referred to at that time as the Northern Territories (hoppo ryodo) separate from North and South Chishima.

2000, Alexei V. Zagorksy, “Reconciliation in the Fifties: The Logic of Soviet Decision Making”, in Gilbert Rozman, editor, Japan and Russia: The Tortuous Path to Normalization, 1949-1999, New York: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 59:

(1) The Northern Territories consists of four islands located off the northeast coast of the Nemuro Peninsula of Hokkaido. They are: Habomai, Shikotan, Kunashiri and Etorofu.

2001/2002, “Overview of the Issue of the Northern Territories”, in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, archived from the original on 2002-06-10:

The islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia, were seized by Soviet forces at the end of World War Two, when 17,000 Japanese residents were forced to flee.

2017 September 7, “Russian and Japanese leaders 'decisively condemn' North Korean tests”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2017-09-07, World News:

A group of islands administered by Russia, claimed by Japan.


conbini

Borrowed from Japanese コンビニ (konbini), from English convenience.


modern girl

(historical) A Japanese woman who followed westernized fashions and lifestyles in the period after World War I.


Ioshima

/ˈioʊˌʃiːmə/

A macronless form of Iōshima, an alternate—and technically incorrect—pronunciation of the same Japanese name as Iwo Jima.

Synonym of Iwo Jima, one of the Volcano Islands administered by Japan as part of Tokyo's Ogasawara Subprefecture.


Ioto

A macronless form of Iōtō, romanization of a separate pronunciation of the same Japanese name as Iwo Jima, officially adopted within Japan since 2007.


Ainuic

A proposed language family spoken in Hokkaido (and historically Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands), consisting of the Ainu languages.


no-no boy

This renunciation required answering "no" to two questions in a questionnaire.

(US, historical, slang) During World War II, a Japanese man who refused to renounce the Japanese emperor and to serve in the United States armed forces.

Internment of Japanese Americans#Loyalty_questions_and_segregation


onigirazu

A form of sushi having the filling sandwiched between portions of rice instead of formed into a circle.


etegami

A Japanese artform that involves creating simple hand-painted images with handwritten words on washi postcards.


mokkan

wooden tablets found at Japanese archaeological sites


mini-shinkansen

en-noun

mini-shinkansen (plural mini-shinkansen or mini-shinkansens)

mini-shinkansen (plural)
mini-shinkansens (plural)

Borrowed from Japanese ミニ新幹線(しんかんせん) (mini shinkansen). By surface analysis, mini- + shinkansen.

(rail transport) A conventional Japanese rail line which has been upgraded to allow use by shinkansen; generally to allow the continuation of shinkansen services beyond the end of a purpose-built, high-speed line.


kirikane

Borrowed from Japanese 截金(きりかね) (kirikane), from 截(き)る (kiru, “to cut”) + 金(かね) (kane, “metal; money”).

A Japanese decorative technique used for Buddhist statues and paintings, consisting of gold leaf, silver leaf or platinum leaf cut into lines, diamonds, and triangles.


hachimaki

hachimaki (plural hachimaki or hachimakis)

A traditional Japanese headband, usually made out of white cloth and wrapped around the forehead.


anagama kiln

From Japanese 穴窯(あながま) (anagama, literally “cave kiln”) + kiln.

ja-r

A form of dragon kiln traditionally used in Japan.


Japanese spiny lobster

en-noun

Japanese spiny lobster (plural Japanese spiny lobsters)

From Japanese + spiny lobster (“Palinuridae sp.”). Likely a partial calque of translingual Panulirus japonicus.

pclq

Panulirus japonicus, a species of spiny lobster sometimes used in Japanese cuisine.


kokutai

Borrowed from Japanese 国体(こくたい) (kokutai, literally “national character”).

ja-r

The national essence and character of Japan viewed as conforming to Shinto-Confucian ideals, with the emperor as its ethical, spiritual, cultural and political center.

國體

national character of Japan viewed as centered on the emperor


goita

a traditional Japanese game played with 32 tiles or cards similar to shogi pieces


Daijirin

Daijirin (canonical)
the Daijirin (canonical)

Borrowed from Japanese 大辞林(だいじりん) (Daijirin, literally “Great Forest of Words”).

Although synonyms, tasogare and kawatare, the Daijirin informs us, took up a popular pseudodivision of labor: tasogare came to refer to the evening phenomenon and kawatare came to refer to its morning counterpart.

2000 January 17, Gerald Figal, Civilization and Monsters: Spirits of Modernity in Meiji Japan (Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society), Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 223:

Relatively recent dictionaries such as Sanseedoo gendai kokugo jiten (first published in 1988), Daijirin (1988), and Daijisen (1995) have included usage labels and supplemental notes from their first editions.[…]Daijirin’s notes concerning usage were also eliminated from its second edition, demonstrating that some revisions represent changes for the worse.

2004 October 28, Janet S. Shibamoto Smith, Shigeko Okamoto, Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People (Studies in Language and Gender), Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 175:

More recently, websites such as Yahoo and Infoseek have begun to provide free Web dictionary services, in which major unabridged monolingual dictionaries such as Dai jirin^([sic]) (大辞林 233 000 entries) and Dai jisen^([sic]) (大辞泉 220 000 entries) can be accessed via the Web.

2005 November 24, Keith Brown, Ronald E. Asher, Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd edition, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 9676:

A comprehensive single-volume Japanese dictionary edited by Akira Matsumura and first published in 1988 by Sanseidō.


yakimeshi

Borrowed from Japanese 焼(や)き飯(めし) (yakimeshi, “stir-fried rice”).

Hand rolls are $4 each, and there are also fried rice bowls (yakimeshi) and teriyaki.

2020 September 1, Florence Fabricant, “Taco Mix FonteNova, With Cemitas, Tacos and More, Opens in the Bronx”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 2024-08-31:


Yamatologist

Calque of Italian yamatologo (“Japanologist”) when used by Italian speakers, from Yamato + -logist otherwise.

clq

The most learned amongst the Yamatologists are still dependant upon Japanese for the information that furnishes the basis of all contributions; and why not have the authorities at the meetings, with interpreters for the benefit of those who have not acquired the necessary knowledge of Japanese?

1898 January 5, C[harles] Pfoundes, “The “Social Evil.”: To the Editor of the “Japan Mail.””, in The Japan Weekly Mail: A Review of Japanese Commerce, Politics, Literatire, and Art, volume XXIX, number 2, Yokohama: Printed and published for […] , by Arthur Bellamy Brown, […] , published 1898 January 8, →OCLC, page 41, column 3:

[Epigraph:] Giuseppe Morichini, the late Italian Yamatologist, was preparing for publication in our East and West a long review on the work by Nakamura Hajime «Indo Tetsugaku Shisô» […]

1960 March, Giuseppe Morichini, “Review of Early Vedānta Philosophy”, in East and West, volume 11, number 1, page 33:

The division which provides services for non-Japanese specializes in providing support in the form of scholarships to scholars and researchers who plan to study in Japan for more than one month but less than one year, and also in inviting both Yamatologists and non-experts alike to attend international meetings or inspect various Japanese institutions for two or three weeks.

1974 November, “The Activities of the Japan Foundation”, in Morita Tohru, editor, The East, volume 10, number 9, Tokyo: The East Publications, Inc., →OCLC, page 17:

For an appropriate translation of this term [baka], I refer to one of the leading Yamatologists in Italy, Professor Adriana Boscaro of the University of Venice at Ca’ Foscari.

1997, Antonio Marazzi, “If Japanese Are Samurai, Italians are Baka: The Multiple Play of Stereotypes”, in Beverly Allen, Mary Russo, editors, Revisioning Italy: National Identity and Global Culture, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, page 277:

How can we interpret this attention to the “harmony between order and form” that shaped the lesson review in Japan? We have tried to reconstruct the “umbrella cultural themes” with the help of a yamatologist, who introduced us to the issue of kata or shikata.

2020, Maria G. Bartolini Bussi et al., “Mathematics Teachers’ Cultural Beliefs: The Case of Lesson Study” (chapter 5), in Despina Potari, Olive Chapman, editors, International Handbook of Mathematics Teacher Education, volume 1, Leiden: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 140:

(chiefly Italian, non-native speakers' English) Synonym of Japanologist (“One who studies Japan, its language, culture and history”)

chiefly Italian; non-native speakers' English; chiefly Italian; non-native speakers' English


bosozoku

en-noun

bosozoku (countable and uncountable, plural bosozoku)

Borrowed from Japanese 暴走族(ぼうそうぞく) (bōsōzoku, “bosozoku gang”).

(uncountable) A Japanese subculture associated with customized motorcycles and riding together in large groups.


bakunyu

Borrowed from Japanese 爆(ばく)乳(にゅう) (bakunyū), from 爆(ばく) (baku, “bursting”) + 乳(にゅう) (nyū, “breast”).

(pornography) A genre of Japanese pornography characterized by featuring women with extremely large breasts; chiefly found in hentai, though also in live-action pink films.